How to Afford Schooling to Become a Registered Nurse
High school graduates who wish to qualify as a registered nurse may be worried about whether they and their families would be able to afford the high tuition fees, but they should realize that financial assistance is available.
A student is charged basic course or tuition fees in order to obtain a nursing degree, and further costs are also involved including textbook fees, the costs relating to living on campus and those relating to travelling to and from campus. As these costs can add up to a lot of money, high school graduates may become discouraged and may decide they cannot afford to study further. There are, however, several things that can be done in order to reduce the overall cost of a prospective nursing student's studying beyond high school.
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The first thing that a student can do is decide to study online instead of on-campus. There is no difference between the nursing qualification that is obtained through on-campus study and that obtained through online study. With online study, however, a student works from home and does not have to live on-campus, which means that no residential or transportation fees have to be paid. A further advantage of online study is that a student can usually obtain the qualification quicker when working from home.
There are also several scholarship and grant programs available to nursing students, and these programs will range from contributing a few hundred dollars towards an educational package to covering the entire cost of obtaining a nursing degree. Grants and scholarships are usually offered through a college or university, but there are also private institutions like philanthropic societies, memorial trusts and private companies that offer such financial assistance. The American Legion Women's Auxiliary programs in each state also offer many scholarship and grant programs that are specific to nursing, as do many hospitals and nursing associations. One of the major advantages of being awarded a scholarship or grant is that these awards comprise gift monies and, as such, do not have to be repaid.
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Federal and state grants and loans are also available, as are financial packages tailored specifically towards those in the health care service industry. These do, however, have to be repaid but students are usually given many years in which to make repayments, and a registered nurse could also have the option of working in a federal or state funded hospital to work off the debt.
Financial aid is available for those studying nursing, and students shouldn't be forced to abandon their dreams due to their financial need.
